The Squid's Ear Magazine


Murayama, Seijiro: Mi-Tai (Ftarri / Hitorri)

Eight improvised performances on percussion from Paris-based drummer/percussionist Seijiro Murayama recorded in 2019 using acoustic sources from snare drums, mallets, brushes, voice, steel tables, gong and voice, captured in four locations around France and in Mishima City, Japan, each exploring new compositional methods and ways to improvise within them.
 

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Seijiro Murayama-snare drums, mallets, brushes, voice, steel tables, gong


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Label: Ftarri / Hitorri
Catalog ID: hitorri-980
Squidco Product Code: 30196

Format: CD
Condition: New
Released: 2020
Country: Japan
Packaging: Cardstock Sleeve, sealed
Tracks 1-3 recorded at a private home in Mishima city, Japan, by Shinichi Watanbe.

Track 4 recorded during a residency at an art museum in France, in the museum's library.

Track 5 recorded at a theatre in France.

Tracks 6-8 recorded in a practice room outside Paris.

Descriptions, Reviews, &c.

"Seijiro Murayama is a drummer/percussionist and improviser/composer living in Paris. Since around 2017 he's focused on creating electro-acoustic works using recordings of his own improvisations. The results of these efforts have been released as two highly praised solo albums from the Hitorri label: Downdate (hitorri-986, 2017) and The Empire of Slip of the Tongue (hitorri-984, 2018). In an about-face from these earlier releases, his new album, Mi-tai, consists of eight improvisational performances on percussion. It's as if Murayama were returning to his point of origin with this release.

Here's a rundown of the instruments and recording locations of the eight tracks.

Tracks 1-3: 10-inch snare drum, mallets, brushes. Track 2 includes Murayama's vocal accompaniment. Recorded at a private home in Mishima city, Japan.

Track 4: Two semicircular steel tables that were not made as musical instruments (the two tables form a complete circle). Recorded during a residency at an art museum in France, in the museum's library.

Track 5: 14-inch snare drum without snare wires. Recorded at a theatre in France during a practice break.

Tracks 6-8: Gong of unknown origin (6), 10-inch snare drum (7, 8). Recorded in a practice room outside Paris.

Mi-tai is the first of two albums in which Murayama attempts to give a comprehensive account of his improvisation on percussion and drum set--his "principal occupation," so to speak--in this moment in time. This is a chance to experience the amazing creativity that sets Murayama apart from other percussionists/drummers.-Hitorri

"Since around 2017, I'd been concentrating on electro-acoustic composition, with my own recordings of my solo performances as material. To go on to the next step in composition it became necessary to delve further into my compositional methods; additionally, there was a transformation in my way of thinking about improvisation itself. The first of the resulting trial-and-error processes is this recording. The second is a recording of performances on drums." (Seijiro Murayama)"



This album has been reviewed on our magazine:

The Squid
The Squid's Ear!

Artist Biographies

"Percussionist Seijiro Murayama was born in 1957 in Nagasaki, Japan. He started performing improvised music in 1972, under some influence of Vinko Globokar and musicologist Fumio Koizumi. After graduated from Tokyo University in 1982 in Urdu studies he toured the USA with Keiji Haino as part of the seminal psychedelic band Fushitsusha. Returning to Japan after a period in NYC he continued playing drums and electronics in K.K. Null's noise/rock band A.N.P. (Absolut Null Punkt), while further exploring free improvisation. A relocation to France in 1999 led to collaborations that extended into dance, theatre and performance as well as ongoing partnerships with musicians Jean-Luc Guionnet, Eric Cordier, Michel Doneda, Mattin, Lionel Marchetti, among many others. After over a decade in Europe he relocated back to Japan in 2013.

His artistic principal is to work with the idea of the plural or inter-disciplinary relationships between music and other disciplines of art: dance, video, paintings, photos, literature etc. In this way, he collaborates with musicians, composers, and sound artists. Improvisation is always the major concern for him, even if it is not his artistic goal. His approach is based on the attention to space and place, to the energy of the audience and to the quality and perception of silence on various levels."

-Fort Process (http://fortprocess.co.uk/seijiro-murayama/)
3/13/2024

Have a better biography or biography source? Please Contact Us so that we can update this biography.


Track Listing:



1. do-tai 1 06:34

2. do-tai 2 05:24

3. do-tai 3 14:35

4. in-tai 1 21:13

5. in-tai 2 03:17

6. in-tai 3 07:05

7. shin-tai 1 11:20

8. shin-tai 2 02:52

Related Categories of Interest:


Improvised Music
Free Improvisation
Percussion & Drums
Asian Improvisation & Jazz
Solo Artist Recordings

Search for other titles on the label:
Ftarri / Hitorri.


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